Postscript Language Tutorial and Cookbook

PostScript, a revolutionary, device-independent page description language, is quickly becoming the industry standard for printing high-quality integrated text and graphics. It is a powerful, flexible language that has the ability to describe efficiently the appearance of text, images, and graphic material on the printed page. Already PostScript has been incorporated into some of the today's most innovative printers, including LaserWriter from Apple Computer, Inc.

Now from Adobe Systems Incorporated, the company that invented PostScript, here is the definitive introduction to this exciting language. The Postscript Language Tutorial and Cookbook is a thorough and clearly written guide to PostScript that outlines the features and capabilities of the language and shows practical ways to create useful PostScript programs.

Using numerous annotated examples and short programs, the tutorial provides a step-by-step guided tour of PostScript, highlighting those that make it such a unique and powerful language. The cookbook offers a collection of some of the most useful techniques and procedures available to PostScript programmers.

Also available is a companion volume, the PostScript Language Reference Manual by Adobe Systems Incorporated, a comprehensive description of and reference to the language.

• PostScript Language Tutorial
1. Introduction
1. PostScript as a Page Description Language
2. PostScript as a Programming Language
2. Stack and Arithmetic
1. The PostScript Stack
2. Arithmetic
3. Interactive Stack Operators
4. New Operator Summaries
5. Operator Summary
3. Beginning Graphics
1. Drawing Lines
2. Filled Shapes
3. Operator Summary
4. Procedures and Variables
1. PostScript Dictionaries
2. Defining Variables and Procedures
3. Using Procedures and Variables
4. Operator Summary
5. Printing Text
1. PostScript Fonts
2. Printing Variety
3. Operator Summary
6. More Graphics
1. Coordinate Systems
2. Graphics State
3. Curves
4. Operator Summary
7. Loops and Conditionals
1. Conditional Execution
2. Loops
3. Operator Summary
8. Arrays
1. PostScript Arrays
2. Array Operators
3. Operator Summary
9. More Fonts
1. Different Shows
2. Character Encoding
3. Font Transformations
4. Character Outlines
5. Operator Summary
10. Clipping and Line Details
1. Clipping Path
2. Line-Drawing Details
3. Operator Summary
11. Images
1. The image Operator
2. Operator Summary
12. PostScript Printers
1. Apple LaserWriter
• PostScript Language Cookbook
• Introduction
• Format of the Examples
• How to Use the Cookbook
• Basic Graphics
• About the Programs
• Dictionaries and Local Variables
• Program 1 / Repeated Shapes
• Program 2 / Expanded and Constant Width Lines
• Program 3 / Elliptical Arcs
• Program 4 / Drawing Arrows
• Program 5 / Centered Dash Patterns
• Program 6 / Printing Images
• Printing Text
• About the Programs
• Program 7 / Printing with Small Caps
• Program 8 / Setting Fractions
• Program 9 / Vertical Text
• Program 10 / Circular Text
• Program 11 / Placing Text Along an Arbitrary Path
• Applications
• About the Programs
• Program 12 / A Simple Line Breaking Algorithm
• Program 13 / Making a Poster
• Program 14 / Drawing a Pie Chart
• Program 15 / Filling an Area with a Pattern
• Modifying and Creating Fonts
• Modifying Existing Fonts
• Creating New Fonts
• About the Programs
• Program 16 / making an Outline Font
• Program 17 / Re-encoding an Entire Font
• Program 18 / Making Small Changes to Encoding Vectors
• Program 19 / Changing the Character Widths of a Font
• Program 20 / Creating an Analytic Font
• Program 21 / Creating a Bitmap Font
• For Further Reference
• Quotations

• Appendix: Operator Summary

A little known fact is that Postscript is a full programming language. If you're interested, this is a good buy together with its companion volumes.